Cream of the Crop 1/Cream of the Crop 1.iso/COMM/ICOM100B.ARJ/SYSOP.DOC

Text File | 1992-03-28 | 18KB | 322 lines

                                 Intellicomm (TM)
                                       v1.00
       Copyright (C) 1991-1992 Liberation Enterprises.  All rights reserved.
                             SYSOP/VENDOR INFORMATION


     * Sysops/Disk Librarians please note that Intellicomm does have
     counters, which display the number of times the program has been used,
     but that it does not 'expire' at a certain number.  The information is
     displayed only to help the user determine what type of usage s/he's
     getting out of the program.

                                GENERAL INFORMATION

        Program name: Intellicomm
             Version: 1.00.
     Developer/Price: Liberation Enterprises; $29.95 registration.  $10.00
                      off ($19.95) if proof-of-purchase of another MS-DOS
                      comm. program is sent (details in ORDER.DOC).
     Online filename: ICOM100A.ZIP, ICOM100B.ZIP.
            Category: MS-DOS Communications Programs.
        Requirements: MS-DOS 2.0 or greater/compatible computer, 360K RAM, 2-
                      360K drives, or 1-1.2 Meg drive.  Hard drive recom-
                      mended.
         Description: Carries out your BBS sessions, on MULTIPLE BBS types,
                      completely unattended!  Save time, effort, and long-
                      distance charges by having your BBS sessions carried
                      out overnight while you're sleeping.  MegaMail/Qmail-
                      type message transfers, automated file uploads and
                      downloads, and a great deal more.  If you use a BBS,
                      Intellicomm is for you.

     NOTE: The benefits of public beta testing are many, especially with
     something like Intellicomm that is meant to access BBS's all around the
     World ... but it does have a drawback in that once the testing is
     overwith old, buggy versions remain scattered around the World.  If you
     do have an older version of Intellicomm in your catalog/disk directories
     we ask that you please delete it immediately.  All v0.9x releases
     ICOM092?.ZIP, ICOM093?.ZIP, ICOM094?.ZIP, and ICOM095?.ZIP should be
     deleted now that v1.00 is out.


                                 SYSOP INFORMATION

     Thank you for helping to distribute Intellicomm on your BBS!  This
     section was written to help BBS Operators make the most of Intellicomm
     -- both personally, and for the benefit of all on their BBS.  The
     objective is to introduce uninitiated Sysops to Intellicomm and possibly
     get you interested enough to want to spend a bit of time with the
     program for the benefit of yourself and everyone on your BBS.

     Intellicomm is a communications program that was developed for BBS's and
     BBS users specifically.  Most other communications programs were
     targeted at a general market (usually the corporate market, with the BBS
     market as a 'bonus'), making it less practical to design in BBS-specific
     features such as we have done with Intellicomm.  There are helpful BBS-
     specific features in all areas of the program, but the main BBS-specific
     features of interest are in the area of unattended communications.




     Intellicomm v1.00               SYSOP.DOC                              2



     THE BENEFITS OF UNATTENDED COMMUNICATIONS

     Unattended communications is really nothing new, as most communications
     programs have had script languages built-in for years.  What's different
     with the unattended communications we're presenting with Intellicomm is
     that users gain much MORE power than you'll find in any script --
     without any programming knowledge, and in a far more user-friendly
     environment.  Many times due to the limitations and complications of
     scripts, they could only automate the logon process or some other
     relatively simple tasks such as collecting mail.  This was useful
     (better than nothing), and Intellicomm is also very proficient in the
     logon/message area, and certainly many people use Intellicomm to
     transfer their mail unattended -- with more control and error handling,
     and less setup work than any script will provide.  But in reality most
     people ALSO want to download the interesting Shareware programs out
     there that are being released by the dozens every week.  Programs are
     the reason many people buy modems and call BBS's in the first place, and
     it's where most online time is spent at many BBS's.

     Scripts can't really help the BBS users during this time though, as
     uploads and downloads are too complex for scripts to handle.  Certainly
     they are far too advanced for script "auto-learn" modes to cope with.
     The few scripts that can automate file transfers (add-on products
     usually requiring a fee more than Intellicomm's full price) only do it
     on one BBS type...  So unattended use, even with advanced add-on
     scripts, was still a "bonus", to be used here and there, on a given BBS
     type.

     But when you give a system like Intellicomm to your users, where it's
     possible to perform virtually ALL BBS tasks unattended, on multiple BBS
     types, then unattended use becomes a full-time 'norm' instead of a
     convenience that can be used here and there.  The perspective changes
     from this point, as BBSing becomes more pleasant and convenient for the
     user.  They don't have to wait around listening to busy signals while
     trying to get connected, they don't have to keep within earshot of the
     computer waiting for those end-of-file-transfer alarms, they don't have
     to keep track of filenames and online time, and download bytes, and
     which BBS and/or file area a given file came from... and wonder whether
     they uploaded that old reply packet that's sitting in their offline
     reader directory.

     They don't have to work interactively with the BBS at the possibly
     painfully slow speed of their modem (2400 baud is still common, and it's
     painful), without their mouse and with "simulated" colors/slow screen
     updates.  They don't have to page through BBS help facilities trying to
     figure out how to get something done ... or leave a message to you
     asking how to do something.  And they also don't have to keep their
     telephone tied up (which usually doubles as a voice line) during the
     evening hours when most people do their manual BBSing, since Intellicomm
     can carry out their session while they're at work or are sleeping!  When
     they get home in the evening, everything is already there waiting for
     them.  This brings up a further bonus to users who access your BBS from
     out-of-town, since they can carry out their sessions late at night when




     Intellicomm v1.00               SYSOP.DOC                              3



     long-distance fees are lowest (Intellicomm also supports the PC Pursuit,
     and Inet/Datapac long distance services).

     For manual users who like browsing to see what's new in Shareware, they
     normally must go through the file list the way the BBS sorts it, because
     no BBS (that we're aware of) allows the user to set his/her own default
     sort order.  Intellicomm's File Tagger lets users sort megabytes of new
     files listings instantly, forwards or backwards, three different ways.
     They can eliminate duplicate files, set download priorities so that they
     obtain files from the most desirable location, filter out files that are
     older than a given date, just as on the BBS ... and if they see
     something they like they just press the space bar and Intellicomm will
     pick it up for them the next time it's online!  The manual BBS users
     instead work tediously online, using up their online time and tying up
     the phone lines... (or offline, browsing a capture file with pen and
     paper in hand to keep track of filenames to download).

     Not all the benefits go to the user though, and there are also many
     benefits to you as a Sysop.  Due to the way Intellicomm works, users
     normally do all their thinking offline.  And when Intellicomm does logon
     to carry out the session, it does so very quickly, without reading help
     screens/thinking about what to do next... at a speed that even your most
     expert manual BBS users would have a hard time matching.  This reduces
     connect times drastically, which in the end allows your BBS to handle
     more users per phone line!  Since Intellicomm users can carry out their
     BBS sessions overnight or while their at work, they in turn reduce the
     prime-time crunch that most BBS's experience during the evening hours.
     Intellicomm will never leave a message to you complaining about busy
     signals ... it will wait hours to get connected, if necessary, with no
     complaints and usually the user won't even be aware of how long it took
     to get connected -- Intellicomm did the waiting and got the job done on
     its own, so it wasn't important to the user how long it took to get
     connected.

     On BBS's where uploading is automation-friendly, Intellicomm will also
     encourage more uploads, since the user can simply tag files offline and
     go to sleep... leaving all dialing/uploading work to Intellicomm.
     Intellicomm also maintains the original description of the file, from
     the BBS it was downloaded from.  All the user need do is press the space
     bar to tag the file for uploading, just as they did to download the
     files from other BBS's.

     However, if your BBS is not automation-friendly, and asks for extra
     information such as file categories/areas to post each file in, or what
     have you (which Intellicomm has no way of knowing), then users will have
     to manually enter the file area online.  There's no way for us to
     reliably maintain a listing of your BBS file areas offline (BBS
     developers provided us with no reliable means of doing so), to show to
     the user when s/he tags a file for uploading offline ... and we can't
     just leave it up to the user to get/maintain the list (automation-
     unfriendly = people don't bother).  But, if your BBS is geared towards
     user convenience and doesn't ask for file areas, you'll surely see a lot
     more uploads from Intellicomm users than from manual users.




     Intellicomm v1.00               SYSOP.DOC                              4



     Of even more benefit to you as a Sysop is to put Intellicomm to use
     yourself, transferring mail and files for the BBS (or yourself), and
     gaining all the BBS user benefits listed above, for yourself as well.

     Intellicomm users, within just a matter of a month or so, can save hours
     and hours of time, effort, AND online time (and possibly long-distance
     fees) through unattended communications.  For the BBS user who knows
     Intellicomm -- manual BBSing becomes abnormal and inconvenient, and it
     is avoided unless absolutely necessary.

     Though the program is quite new, there are already Intellicomm users in
     most parts of the World, in most major cities, and on virtually all
     major BBS types.  People do like using it, and like the convenience it
     offers over manual BBSing.

     However, this is only the case AFTER Intellicomm has been properly
     configured for your BBS (or your competitor's BBS... in lieu of an easy
     setup on yours).  Due to the configurability of BBS's, where BBS
     prompts/messages and commands can vary not just from one BBS type to the
     next... but from the -same- BBS type to the next (PCBoard to PCBoard for
     example) it has become impossible for something like Intellicomm to
     offer users easy setups on all BBS's.  "Auto-learn" modes can't possibly
     get the hundred or so BBS prompts/messages (some of which are rather
     hard to get, even manually) that Intellicomm must know.  So if you have
     changed the prompts/messages on your BBS it will be up to the user to
     get all the prompts you changed, and plug them into their Intellicomm
     "map" (BBS Information File) for your BBS.  Without the proper BBS
     prompts and messages unattended automation is unreliable, if not
     impossible.

     But if you can see the advantages to unattended communications, you can
     eliminate this problem for ALL automated users and have people up and
     running, and fully automated on your BBS with no hassles.

     There are a few ways a Sysop can do this.  The first/best is to make
     your BBS more automation-friendly, and this will not only benefit
     Intellicomm users -- but will benefit ALL script and other automated
     users as well.  This is a simple matter of returning your BBS to its
     "stock" form, as far as the command structure and main BBS prompts and
     commands go (i.e. 'novice' menus, bulletins, and messages can still be
     customized to give the BBS a unique look, but where the actual questions
     are asked and key messages given to the user, you should use the stock
     BBS format).  This will never have a 'harmful' effect, even to manual
     users.  In fact, the standard prompts/messages may be of benefit to them
     as well, since they'll feel more at home if they're familiar with that
     BBS type -- and it will offer SO many benefits when your users attempt
     to set up for unattended communications, Intellicomm, script or
     otherwise, that it certainly worth considering.

     The second way is to have the best of both Worlds, and create two
     "modes" for your BBS -- one mode using the customized BBS structure that
     your manual users are used to, and another mode using the stock BBS
     format, for automated use.  On BBS types where multiple languages are
     supported, it's a simple matter to use the "stock" prompt file that




     Intellicomm v1.00               SYSOP.DOC                              5



     comes with the BBS as a "Standard Prompts [for automated use]" language
     option, and your customized prompt file as a separate language which
     manual users may select at their discretion.  If at all possible, the
     BBS should *default* to using the stock BBS prompts language, and offer
     the customized prompts/messages as an alternative for manual users.  In
     reality there are very few people who would rather wait to get
     connected, then do everything manually -- instead of using something
     like Intellicomm to do it overnight while they're sleeping... so manual
     users may become few and far between if unattended use is made simple on
     your BBS.

     The third way to permit easy unattended communications is to create an
     Intellicomm Auto-BIF.  BIF stands for BBS Information File, and BIFs are
     Intellicomm's "map" to a given BBS.  If you change the wording of a
     question/message, or the format of a command, the same change must be
     made in the Intellicomm BIF for your BBS (i.e. by every Icom user on
     your BBS).  Since you know the BBS better than anyone, and know all the
     changes you made, it will be much easier for you to set up the Auto-BIF
     for your BBS than it would for a remote Icom user who may have a hard
     time getting some of the more obscure messages that Intellicomm must
     watch for.

     Even if your BBS is stock format, an Auto-BIF is still a good idea as it
     can act as your "ball of clay" to customize the other end of the
     connection, and will help ensure that Icom users use your BBS in the way
     you want them to.  You supply the BBS name, phone number(s), language
     name/number where applicable, mail and bank door names/numbers, if
     applicable, commands Intellicomm will use to carry out various tasks,
     protocols to use, etc.  I.e. you may have Icom users carry out their
     sessions the way YOU want them to, using the commands and protocols that
     suit your BBS best.  You can also include special notes for the user,
     regarding BBS setup or any other special BBS information.  I.e. if you
     want to make sure all Intellicomm users read bulletin 1, you can place a
     note in the Auto-BIF telling them so.  All Intellicomm users look for a
     file called ICOMAUTO.ZIP (the Auto-BIF) when they log onto your BBS for
     the first time, and if this file exists they simply download it, log
     off, then sit back and watch Intellicomm set itself up for your BBS!
     Any BBS notes you included are automatically displayed during the setup
     process.

     ONWARD AND UPWARD

     If you are interested in Intellicomm to would like to put it to work for
     yourself and your users, please now refer to NEWUSER.DOC which will get
     you up-to-speed with Intellicomm and BIFs fairly quickly (within about
     twenty minutes).  It will also give you an idea what Intellicomm users
     do when they log onto your BBS.

     Setting up an Auto-BIF does require some basic knowledge of Intellicomm
     (covered in NEWUSER.DOC), and once you have that AUTOICOM.DOC will
     explain the Auto-BIFs for you, in detail.  ICOM.DOC also has a section
     on BIFs (please see the table of contents at the front of that document)
     which covers the trickier items in BIFs which can be read in just a few
     minutes with a text file viewer, if necessary.  If you do require




     Intellicomm v1.00               SYSOP.DOC                              6



     assistance, please feel free to contact us by mail (address in
     ORDER.DOC), or electronically in any of the places mentioned under
     TECHNICAL SUPPORT, in NEWUSER.DOC.  Thank you for your interest in
     Intellicomm and your users.